cazalea[Seiko Moderator]
17144
Sportura Perpetual! Not fashionable but trustworthy
Apr 20, 2024,13:43 PM
I'm wearing my Seiko Sportura Perpetual Calendar GMT 100M watch today. As I said in the title to this post, it's not the most fashionable watch having aged a bit since Y2K, but it's a darn nice object to find in the watch cabinet.
- Legible dial
- Bright lume on markers AND hands, including the GMT
- Always running (lithium battery 5+ years)
- Always on the right day (perpetual calendar movement 8F56 programmed for 100 years)
- Screw-down crown for water resistance to a far greater depth than I will ever reach (without cement overshoes)
- Nice heft to stainless steel case and bracelet
- "Porthole" look to the case, with integrated styling to bracelet (no strap due to integrated bracelet lugs)
Part of a family of watches from Seiko known as SPORTURA, this has siblings which I have also owned, including a titanium perpetual GMT which I must have lost, as I liked it better than the stainless version. But don't they make a nice match? And you can tell them apart by the GMT hands and lume.
Lume shot - seems I'm 30 second fast.
Then there's the Kinetic Sportura (not perpetual) version, dependent on arm movement to wind itself. I still have this but don't wear it often because the screw-down crown threads are stripped now and I don't like to wear it with the crown sticking up. I suppose a trip to Seiko Service could cure that.
Jim Clark jumping his Lotus in one of my wall pictures (an early attempt at artsy watch photos from 20 years ago).
Today's similar but not identical photo with today's watch on:
Final member of my Sportura team is this Chronograph. I saw it advertised on the inside rear cover of Classic & Sports Car, on a flight to London in 2001.
Soon thereafter it was on my wrist -- Jan 2002 it the first photo.
I still have the coffee cup too, along with a half-dozen other prints by Randy Owens. This one shows the first time Michael Andretti passed his father Mario on the racetrack (signed by both).
Sorry, I digressed. See below for a recent photo of the Chrono.
By the way, if the Sportura styling is too dated for your taste, you could find another Seiko Perpetual GMT (movement 8F56) watch that looks like this in a much more modern titanium skin.
Along with my trusty Breitling Aerospace this is my favorite travel watch. It seems to have enjoyed Hawaii and Alaska...
More than a few times. I believe this is Lahaina before the fire.
And road trips are fine too. This one to Arizona.
Cazalea